Ethiopian journalist on prison odyssey needs medical care

"When I grow up will I go to jail like my
dad?" This was the shattering question that the five-year-old son of imprisoned
Ethiopian journalist Woubshet Taye asked his mother after a recent prison
visit. Woubshet's son, named Fiteh (meaning "justice"), has accompanied his
mother on a wayward tour of various prisons since his father was arrested
in June 2011.

Authorities have inexplicably transferred
Woubshet, the former deputy
editor of the independent weekly Awramba Times, to a number of
prisons. From Maekelawi
Prison, authorities transferred him to Kality Prison in the capital, Addis
Ababa, then to remote Ziway Prison, then Kilinto Prison (just outside Addis
Ababa), back to Kality, and in December last year--to Ziway again.

It is at Ziway,
an isolated facility roughly 83 miles southeast of the capital, where heat,
dust, and contaminated water have likely led to a severe kidney infection in Woubshet.
The award-winning
journalist was meant to receive medical treatment while at Kality Prison in
Addis Ababa, Woubshet's wife, Berhane Tesfaye, told me, but it never took
place. Suffering in such pain in his ribs and hip that he cannot sleep,
Woubshet has not even received painkillers, according to local
journalists who visited him.

Despite high transport costs and more than four
hours of travel each way, Berhane and Fiteh try to visit Woubshet every week.
Fiteh routinely becomes ill from the dust, Berhane said, and prison guards
prevent Woubshet from hugging his son. Prison visits are often brief and
canned, local journalists told me, as even discussions over Woubshet's health
are restricted by guards assigned to monitor the conversation.

What terrible misdeeds could have triggered
such a fate? Authorities sentenced Woubshet to 14 years in prison on charges
lodged under Ethiopia's broad anti-terrorism
law. The evidence includes email exchanges he had with Elias Kifle, exiled
Ethiopian editor of the Washington-based opposition website Ethiopian Review, Berhane
said. An email to Woubshet's brother in America was also cited as evidence
against him, she said. After Woubshet's brother asked about their ailing
father's eye operation, his reply that "the operation was done successfully"
was used as an example of his terrorist activities.

Local journalists suspect the real reason
lies in Woubshet's critical reporting at Awramba
Times. Two weeks prior to his arrest, Woubshet published a column critical
of the ruling party's performance in its two decades of rule. Another column,
written in 2009, that questioned the whereabouts of former opposition party
members after the 2005 elections may have also triggered his arrest, Berhane
said.

While debates over the reasons for
Woubshet's arrest may persist, there is one point on which all sides should
agree: Woubshet must be allowed access to medical treatment. Ethiopia is a
signatory to the African Charter on Human and People's Rights, the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the International
Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and thus duty-bound to ensure
the health of its citizens as a fundamental human right.

Tom Rhodes is CPJ's East Africa representative, based in Nairobi. Rhodes is a founder of southern Sudan’s first independent newspaper. Follow him on Twitter: @africamedia_CPJ

Comments

These brutal government officials who are committing all these crimes must be held accountable and responsible for their actions no matter when and where . Everyone who believe and stands for the human rights and freedom should put the pressure on this government.Justice for Woubshet and all journalists who is suffering in the hand of a dictator in Ethiopia and everywhere. Justice for ALL.

Fiteh, UR father went to jail to save you and other Ethiopian children from jail in the future.
i will promise you Proudly, me and my friends will never let u go to jail. we will secure the freedom to go to palace not to jail for the coming generation.
If u became strong like your farther, if u study hard and if u love your country, you will go to the palace.

Jailing journalists and dissents would not the best solution to linger in power for a long time. I believe it is not too late for the government to democratize the land of the braves. Otherwise, officials of the government replace all political prisoners that suffer in dark solitary confinement and their children, in turn, visit them every weekend.

The Woyane government is a terrorist group created by the western allies who apparently are fighting terrorists in Afganistan, Iraq... ... Paradoxically this so called western democratic countries are busy fighting terrorism on one place and help create terrorism in another place. Believe me The same Wetern countries will some time in the future send their troop to Africa to fight the terrorism they created. It happened in Afganistan and Iraq. It will happen in Africa.